The Royal Command
by Seto's Darkness
Summary: After defeating Britannia in a bitter war, Suzaku Kururugi is the Prince of Japan who takes a liking to the purple-eyed prisoner, Lelouch. .:SuzaLulu AU:.


- Suzaku is the Prince, while Lelouch is a prisoner 8D Very interesting, yes/yes? XD I might make a sequel for this one =D

*

"Your Highness," One of the royal advisors says with a sickly-sweet smile, "You don't have to insist on these nasty brats…"

Ten-year-old Suzaku Kururugi, High Prince of the Empire of Japan, shakes his head, chocolate-colored bangs falling into his eyes.

He was on his way to his private tutoring for horseback riding when he saw a glimpse of muddy children being led towards the dungeons. A flash of violet caught his curious eyes and he asked the soldiers to stop their march. The royal advisor assigned to him for the moment, Ougi Kaname, tried to dissuade him from letting go the purple-eyed prisoner.

Suzaku doesn't know why he wants the purple-eyed kid to be his friend. There is something in those eyes, a flash of defiance, of power, even though his hands are chained and his feet are raw from walking without any shoes.

"What's your name?" Suzaku asks, moving closer but not too much, because the other children are glaring at him and at the purple-eyed kid, jealous of his immaculate robes, of the other kid's imminent freedom. Suzaku keeps his best smile on though, because that's one of the things that will capture a friend's heart, Euphie told him before.

Purple-eyed kid sniffs disdainfully, turning his head away. Suzaku's face falls, looking dismayed, and one of the royal guards makes a move to hit the insolent child. Suzaku's yell of order hastily stops the guard from hitting the other.

"I want him to be my friend," Suzaku insists to Ougi, who sighs deeply, knowing that he can't really go against a direct order from the High Prince.

"Yes, Your Highness," Ougi says with that false-looking smile again, and nods at the royal guard. The purple-eyed kid is then promptly escorted towards the baths, where he will be made presentable by the maids before he can be sent to the Prince's study.

Suzaku smiles at his new friend, with those startling amethyst eyes, but the other simply glares hotly at him, and doesn't smile back.

*

Purple-eyed-kid turns out to be Lelouch Lamperouge, and Suzaku gladly calls him Lelouch with that brilliant smile. Lelouch looks at him, nonplussed, before turning his head away.

Suzaku notices that Lelouch likes to do that: the intense glaring, the disdainful sniffing, the arrogant head-turning. Lelouch was so unlike the other children he was with, sticking out from the bundles of despair and dirt and streaks of war. Lelouch came from Britannia, a neighboring country that the Japanese Empire has annexed.

Those were the only things that Suzaku found out about his new friend, even after spending five hours with the other.

Suzaku's smile doesn't falter though, and he resolves to learn even more about Lelouch Lamperouge before the day is over.

*

Seven years later finds Suzaku and Lelouch inside the Prince's study, with Lelouch's nose buried in a thick history book, while Suzaku tugs at his friend's sleeves, trying to convince Lelouch to _stop_ reading the assignments given to them by Earl Lloyd, and they should not waste such a sunny day inside the castle.

Lelouch casts a warning glare, but Suzaku is pretty stubborn when he wants to. He is the Prince, but Lelouch is taking the lessons more seriously than him. Lloyd always teases Suzaku about it—that if he didn't know any better, Lelouch is the prince while Suzaku is the—_slaveprisoner_friend.

Suzaku always answers to that with dismissive laughter and placating hand-motions. Suzaku doesn't like hearing those things, not because he doesn't want to see Lelouch as a royalty-material, but because the others always regard the purple-eyed teenager with obnoxious superiority and disgust.

"Let's go outside—" Suzaku continues to wheedle, while Lelouch steadfastly ignores him. "We can go play chess afterwards," Suzaku offers, even though he hates the game, but he knows that it's Lelouch's favorite hobby.

Lelouch sighs, but there's a small smile tugging at his lips, "It can't be helped."

The prince pouts at Lelouch's long-suffering tone, but he pulls at the other's sleeves more enthusiastically, and leads his friend outside.

*

Nineteen-year-old Suzaku Kururugi runs frantically along the hallways, the sound of his frantic footsteps overpowered by the anguished screams, by the clashing of swords, by the boom of rifles. "Lelouch! Where are you!" His yells are being masked as well, melting into the cacophony of battle sounds, as Britannia doesn't relent in its relentless attack.

While Suzaku was being escorted outside the castle, he got separated from Lelouch, and now, Suzaku ran back to his home to find his friend. He ignores the orders for him to stop and think of his own safety, but he can't do that, because Lelouch is his most important person, his first friend, and he wouldn't go to some other place without him.

Suzaku arrives at his own private chambers, and he sees Lelouch there. Instead of looking anxious or injured, however, Lelouch looks calm—no, _smug_.

"Lelouch…?" Suzaku ventures, wincing internally when he recognizes how soft his voice is compared to the raging sounds of war outside.

A green-haired woman appears sits up from Suzaku's bed, looking bored and disinterested, "This is the _boy_…?"

"Aah," Lelouch agrees, and he looks like the glimpses Suzaku catches across the years, with that sharp glint in his eyes, that mean curl of his lips, that cruel edge in his voice. "This is the Prince of Japan."

"The new Emperor, you mean?"

Suzaku clenches his fists, because his father's death is still fresh, and the guilt is still devouring him slowly, painfully. The thought of being an Emperor at this time is buried underneath the thoughts of 'let's escape now, Lelouch' and 'I want to stop this war'.

"Why don't you do it now?" The woman asks curiously, casually tossing a gun to Lelouch's lap. "You said you'll take destroy Japan, ah?"

"…D-destroy… Japan…?" Suzaku whispers the question, blood rushing to his head and making him feel dizzy. He doesn't understand what they are talking about, and who is this woman anyway?

Suzaku's eyes fall to the Crest of Britannia present on the clothes Lelouch is wearing. That's right… Lelouch is from Britannia. But he has lived in the castle for a long time…!

"Are you abandoning me now? Are you abandoning your friend now?!" Suzaku asks wildly, his feet taking him to where Lelouch is. The gun is still innocently lying on Lelouch's lap.

Lelouch shifts his gaze to stare intently into Suzaku's eyes. "Not destroy," He says offhandedly to the youthful woman, and Lelouch places his hand over his left eye, and—

"Lelouch vi Britannia orders you—"

_Lelouch vi Britannia? Britannia's prince?_

And Suzaku finally realizes the reasons for Lelouch's aristocratic grace, his noteworthy intelligence, his impeccable etiquette—everything.

"To follow all of my commands…!"

Suzaku sees Lelouch's triumphantly smirking face, and he wants to say, 'I'll help you, Lelouch', or 'I killed my father so that this war would stop', but the Geass doesn't allow him to say anything else, except for one thing.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

*  
**END**  
Sequel?


End file.
